highlands

Six museums from across the Highlands and Islands launch new experiences on Smartify!

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Six museums from across the Highlands and Islands launch new experiences on Smartify!

From uncovering Cromarty’s historic links to the Transatlantic slave trade to following a blue plaque walking tour revealing the individuals that made Stromness the town it is today, an incredible range of unique Highland history is now available worldwide.

Made possible thanks to a unique partnership between XpoNorth Digital, Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s specialist digital support programme for the creative and heritage sectors, and Smartify, the world’s most downloaded museum app, six Highland museums are now live on the global stage.

They are Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Gairloch Museum; Highlanders’ Museum; Cromarty Courthouse Museum; Clyne Heritage Society (Brora Heritage Centre), and Stromness Museum, Orkney.

Selected earlier this year to take part in the initiative, the chosen six have been busy preparing to digitise either parts of their collection or unique experiences since then. The process has transformed their ability to use digital tools and is also expected to result in employment opportunities and increased income generation in the future.

Now, after six months and an incredible effort from local teams and partners, audiences around the world can access the treasure trove of their offering through the Smartify app, and engage with archives, artifacts, tours and memories from across Scotland’s north.

These include the opportunity to explore Cromarty Courthouse Museum’s Building on Slavery walking tour, with the help of an audio guide that takes visitors around Cromarty and uncovers the town’s historic links to the Transatlantic slave trade, featuring authors David Alston and Nicole Bontemps. Visit Cromarty Courthouse Museum on Smartify here.

Those interested in tracing the lives of the individuals and stories that defined the town of Stromness will be able to enjoy Stromness Museum’s ‘Blue Plaque’ walking tour, following it to discover local buildings and the people who lived in them. Surgeon John Rae, for example, is put under the spotlight as a prolific explorer who navigated the Arctic in the 1800s, while poet and dramatist George Mackay Brown is featured as an eminent writer whose work was distinctly Orcadian in character.

Gareth Squire, Administrator at Stromness Museum said: “The opportunity to bring the stories associated with our collections to a worldwide audience and the ability for Smartify users to enrich their visit using the app, will help raise the Museum’s profile as a ‘must visit’ destination in the Highlands and Islands. The unique ability to engage with our audience with the Blue Plaque Trail through Stromness, which links directly to our collections, is a further positive benefit to our integration with the app and it is hoped this will further increase our visitor numbers and profile”. Visit Stromness Museum on Smartify here.

Meanwhile, the Highlanders’ Museum has shone a light on their collection’s little discussed colonial past by producing a ‘Hidden Histories’ audio guide. Freya Samuel, Digital Engagement Curator at the Highlanders’ Museum, said: “For small, independent museums, physical space can be a limitation which impacts the stories that we are able to tell. Smartify lets us share extra content in a really seamless and accessible way, and it’s also easy to create and share new content, that encourages our visitors to come back again and again. Highland history is now being showcased alongside a world-class selection of museums, and is given an equal presence on the platform. The app really champions small museums and values the stories they have to tell, and we’re excited about sharing our heritage with the world.” Visit The Highlanders’ Museum on Smartify here.

Visitors can also use an audio guide to delve into the eclectic local collection at Brora Heritage Centre, which has showcased their highlights ranging from mining tools and medals to ice skates and bricks. Visit Brora Heritage Centre on Smartify here.

Gairloch Museum has produced a series of ten mini videos that will be showcased on the Smartify platform and shared on social media, that tell the story of the local landscape and its connection to the museum. Visit Gairloch Museum on Smartify here.

An unmissable experience has also been created by Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, who have developed an audio tour to guide visitors around the star objects of the collection including ‘rondello’, a round fiddle invented by Highland-born musician Alexander Grant. Visit Inverness Museum and Art Gallery on Smartify here.

Nicola Henderson, Digital Heritage Specialist at XpoNorth Digital, added: “Months of hard work on the part of the six museums involved has culminated in a milestone moment as the museums’ offerings go live. This partnership with Smartify is not only an example of XpoNorth Digital’s commitment to facilitating innovative ways of working for creative organisations in the region, but also demonstrates the huge potential of digital methods, in terms of both amplifying the area’s history around the globe but also forming networks closer to home. Smartify will help the region’s museums to unravel further layers of the stories held within their collections and give them a newfound appeal to audiences both new and old.”

Thanos Kokkiniotis, Director and Co-Founder of Smartify said: “We are delighted to be working with XpoNorth Digital and the museums on this important and ground-breaking project. One of the reasons we started Smartify was to make the kinds of digital tools that were once previously only available to the very biggest institutions accessible for all. It’s great to see that happening here in Scotland with organisations that are so passionate about Scottish heritage and culture.”

Smartify is available on iOS and Android from the App Store and Google Play respectively. It’s also available on the web via app.smartify.org. For more information on XpoNorth Digital’s work to support creative businesses in the Highlands and Islands, visit www.xponorth.co.uk.

The legacy of ‘The Coast that Shaped the World’ project

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The legacy of ‘The Coast that Shaped the World’ project

Katie Murray, project officer for ‘The Coast that Shaped the World’ project, reflects on its legacy and how it can continue to serve the west coast heritage and tourism sectors. 

Attendees of the ‘Sealladh’ conference in April will remember that COAST is a UHI-led project that uses stories to encourage travel to less well-visited sites across the west coast and islands of Scotland. 

The project employed a team of local story gatherers, from Wester Ross and Lewis in the north to Arran and Kintyre in the south, to uncover stories deeply rooted in place and of significance to locals. This was supplemented by opportunities for the wider public to share stories, through an online survey and during a series of digital workshops organised by region or theme. 

The result was a bank of over 1300 stories celebrating the communities, heritage, culture and environment of the west coast and islands of Scotland. Almost 400 of these were curated, mapped and published on a website and app. The stories were also used in four small pop-up exhibitions that toured heritage and community venues and ferry terminals throughout 2022. 

The stories are intended to encourage users to find out more about the subject and the area they come from. Where relevant we include the source of the story, or direct readers to books, websites or local heritage institutions where they could find out more. For example, those interested in delving deeper into the story of the ambush at Highbridge, the first armed conflict of the 1745 Jacobite uprising, are directed to a blog published by West Highland Museum.  A story about open-air preaching site ‘An Cos’ references the wooden pulpit box used during services on display in Gairloch Museum.

One aim was to help alleviate overtourism at some of the busier sites, encouraging visitors to explore other places that have a rich heritage but which have remained off the beaten track. One of the most important ways we have done this is by seeking out stories that are not widely known, and geotagging these to a relevant site, monument or memorial. This is published in the form of a digital map available on both our website and in the app. We hope the stories will spur the curiosity of visitors and motivate them to see the sites where events happened for themselves. 

All of the stories are published on the website. They can easily be found and accessed from here- as well as the digital map, they are also sorted by theme or subject matter such as ‘Jacobites’, ‘Shipwrecks’, and ‘Archaeology.’ This is also the best place to share stories from if you want to use them on your own social media to alert your followers about other local heritage sites.

In contrast, the app is specifically designed for users to experience and explore the stories while out and about. As well as the digital map, there is a ‘Find Nearby Stories’ function to allow for the easy discovery of content while on the move. Some of the stories have also been recorded by professional storytellers. It makes for an atmospheric outing, to read or hear a story being recounted while standing on site, or at a memorial or heritage centre. 

While we will be winding down our digital presence, our Facebook and Instagram pages will remain live and represent an awareness raising campaign promoting stories and place spanning almost two years. Around a third of the stories were also published here and can still be searched and shared directly. We have also co-curated a series of COAST themed trails, on Arran, in Lochaber and in Wester Ross, which have been published by ‘Spirit of the Highlands.’      

While the main exhibitions have been dismantled, individual panels containing the text of stories are being distributed throughout the west coast and islands for display in public, community and heritage venues so that visitors will continue to discover them while on the move. As far as possible we have sent the stories ‘home’ to their community of origin, for the benefit of locals and so that visitors can learn more about the area. Look out for these in, amongst other places, on Canna, in Glencoe, on Islay, on Skye and on Lewis. The website also hosts a virtual exhibition replicating the original displays for people to explore from home.

The contribution of the heritage sector has always been integral to the project, to showing support through the application phases to working with story gatherers and providing information and images. This is one reason why we were delighted to get such a positive response when we presented the final outputs during the Sealladh conference back in April. It’s been an eventful few years since the project began in 2019 and we are slightly in shock that this stage is coming to an end. We hope that COAST leaves a strong legacy and the west coast heritage sector will continue to be served by what the project has created. The website and app will be live until at least 2030. The stories are still there to be discovered and enjoyed- and ideally utilised to help visitors access and understand our rich west coast heritage, and to promote both the sites featured and the wider areas they belong to.

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COAST has been part-funded by the ERDF Natural and Cultural Heritage Fund administered by NatureScot, with match funding from Calmac and UHI West Highland. The project is managed by UHI. Rural Dimensions and Lateral North were contracted as project coordinators, and Lateral North created the exhibitions. Whereverly were contracted to develop the website and app. The project ran in conjunction with Visit Scotland’s 2020 Year of Coast and Waters and the 2022 Scotland’s Year of Stories.

For more information email coast.whc@uhi.ac.uk

Pathways to employment – an exciting part of Museum of the Highlands

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Pathways to employment – an exciting part of Museum of the Highlands

A year ago, when starting to consult Highland teachers on priority areas in their work, ‘pathways to the workplace’ and ‘careers education’ were raised frequently in these conversations. In this blog, Rosie Barrett (digital education specialist) discusses our approach to integrating these priorities into our object based learning model for Museum of the Highlands.

Supporting young learners to access future employment features in many school development plans for the region. The Scottish education system has long been committed to providing a comprehensive and well-rounded education for young people. A crucial element of the Curriculum for Excellence, known as Planning for Choices, focuses on equipping students with the necessary skills and knowledge to make informed decisions about their future career paths. At a basic level, most of us would agree that preparing young people for their future is what teaching is all about.

We worked hard on this as a project team throughout, constantly pushing ourselves to develop activities that helped with the skills and qualities that young people need in the 21st century, including critical thinking, creativity and empathy. However, I was also intrigued about whether we could take this even further.

Selecting a starting point

All the objects found on Museum of the Highlands are divided into one of five chosen themes. From the initial teacher consultation, it was clear one of these themes should focus on employment – we call it ‘World of Work’.

Deciding to create a section on the website dedicated to the world of work meant when staff and volunteers across the fifteen participating museums were selecting objects for the project they included objects that could support this theme and tell of how Highlanders made a living over the centuries and what the working world looks like today. 

In this theme a focus on the Ballachulish slate quarry is drawn out. A pair of leather quarry-workers boots may look unassuming at first, but the metal inserts on the toes and heel produced an unusual ‘tack’ sound when walking and they were referred to as tackity boots – a term still used today.

Once objects were selected we could be quite playful with them. Staff at Glencoe Folk Museum recorded this unusual ‘tack’ sound for us for the activity ‘What’s that Noise’. Now, teachers can play the recording for their class and guess what is making the strange sound. For a moment, you’re right back, hearing sounds that the people of the past heard. It’s a great way for pupils to learn about local industry and the life of quarry workers. It’s also a route into discussing other issues about the workplace, such as health and safety, what other features working boots have to protect the wearers, or even design features of footwear today.

A series of fun quizzes also allows younger children to be introduced to a range of historic jobs by asking ‘Could You Survive?’ These activities explore topics such as working in a coal mine, as a lighthouse keeper or in the fishing industry.

Raising aspirations through expertise

We were keen to address raising aspirations for Highland learners. We wanted to showcase some amazing career opportunities while supporting schools to fulfil the Curriculum for Excellence. One element stood out for us – “Effective teaching harnesses the experience and expertise of different professions to make specialist contributions.”

A really exciting part of the project was a set of careers videos, called ‘In Their Hands’ – the clue is in the name. We were very privileged to work with experts in their fields, men and women with fascinating careers who were able to offer some unique insights into the historical objects in the museum collections. We literally placed the objects in their hands to see what they made of them. 

The resulting videos challenged those of us in the museum sector to see these objects in different ways, but also genuinely support by highlighting careers through our video content. By setting careers within a clear historical context, we were able to look to how they might develop in the future, too.

When we asked a judge to explore items from a historic courtroom, we also discovered why and how the Law evolves. When an anaesthetist explored the transformative role of chloroform in surgery, he was able to provide insights into the workings of the medical profession, and the principles and priorities that underpin careers in that sector. Other professionals included an archaeologist discussing an archaeology technique from the past that went wrong, a geologist talking about famous Highland geologist Hugh Miller based on a carving he made, and an award-winning writer exploring how she was inspired by a Highland glen. 

We hope the videos will be inspiring for young learners – and we hope they’ll be well used. We worked with a class of young people from Ullapool High School to find out what they wanted to know about careers. They were keen to find out how hard it is to get published as a writer. They wanted to know how many people a judge had sent to prison and what the worst conditions a geologist had ever worked in. If you’re intrigued, you can find the answers in the ‘In Their Hands’ section of the website.

The stories we tell.

Good career guidance can also help students to overcome barriers and stereotypes that may hinder choices, including those based on gender or socio-economic background. In response to this, we included stories of real historic Highlanders from a range of fascinating backgrounds and careers. 

Visitors to the Museum of the Highlands website can explore the inspirational story of Megan Boyd. Known to many through the 2013 film Kiss the Water, Megan was an expert salmon fly-tyer, much in demand including by royalty. She challenged gender stereotypes within her lifetime but also worked very long hours. We were able to explore her story and open up discussions about the working world today – the difference between a job or a vocation, for example, the importance of being ourselves, and healthy attitudes to work-life balance. 

Another inspirational female featured is Red Cross Nurse Janet Adams. We focused on just one aspect of her long and varied career, when she supported in the aftermath of Hurricane Janet during the 1950s. Another story shares the unusual mountaineering career of Hamish MacInnes, inventor of an ice axe known to have saved many lives. This story poignantly explores the impact of old age on this famous Highland character.

A lot of my work as an education consultant is based around how we can move passive learning experiences (like reading a story), into more active ones (engaging with a story at a deeper level). We were able to do that through Museum of the Highland by making the stories interactive, incorporating a range of questions into the text. We tried to make these fun, engaging and thought-provoking. Crucially, in many cases there are no right or wrong answers to the questions, just lots of opportunities for young people to decide how they feel about the topics.

What is crucial about all these reflections on careers is that they give young people the chance to decide how they feel about their own attitudes to work, whilst opening up a world of possibilities of careers in the region through museum objects.

The Museum of the Highlands project was funded by Art Fund and Museums Galleries Scotland and is sponsored by Ilum Studio

Towards decolonising the curriculum – through museum learning.

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Towards decolonising the curriculum – through museum learning.

Decolonising is an important topic for museums and for schools. Recently,  teachers from across the Highlands have contacted their local museums seeking support with the process of decolonising the school curriculum. Rosie Barrett, one of our education specialists, talks through our approach to decolonisation on the Museum of the Highlands platform.

A little over a year ago, when I started a consultation process with Highland teachers to inform the development of Museum of the Highlands, teachers were at various stages of their work with themes of anti-racism, Empire and slavery. 

Many were following guidance in the report, ‘Promoting and Developing Race Equality and Anti-Racist Education’ published by Education Scotland. This report focuses on ensuring young people can grow up in an inclusive and supportive Scotland. As part of this, there is a clear awareness of the need to interrogate the past. 

When I met with staff and volunteers from the fifteen museums that formed Museum of the Highlands, it was clear we wanted to seek, self-consciously, to share underrepresented voices, celebrate diversity and hold ourselves to the highest standards. We knew we couldn’t provide all the answers, but by sharing Highland collections responsibly we could provide stimuli for healthy debate around difficult topics. 

The complex interconnections of objects in museum collections with colonialism, and how to approach this in our work, was not something we took lightly – as a project team we spent more time discussing and debating this element of our work than was spent on the other themes together. In this blog, I explain our approach in more detail.

Same objects, different views

A key partner museum in the project for this theme was The Highlanders’ Museum at Fort George. This museum holds the largest military collection outside Edinburgh, including many of the objects represented in the section ‘Colonialism and Conflict‘ on Museum of the Highlands website. 

For example, a bugle that once belonged to Drummer John Alcorn of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Bugles have been used by the military throughout history for communication and to unite troops. This particular instrument was used to sound the Advance for the Highland Brigade to charge at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir. During this conflict, British forces intervened in Egyptian affairs in what is now interpreted as an attempt to secure British interest in the Suez Canal.

It was an important object for us to share. A key aspect cited in the report on promoting race equality in schools is the need for “questioning the source of content and the viewpoints represented”. By looking anew at objects like the bugle, we were able to see beyond the traditional narrative; it wasn’t a case of changing the story, but of looking at a more rounded picture.

Our description of the bugle now directly references two viewpoints – “To the regiment, this instrument may be a symbol of military success, but to the Egyptian people it is more likely to signify the loss of independence and the start of 71 years of colonisation.” 

As with so many of the stories and objects, we saw this as a starting point to reassess some of these moments from the colonial past. Visitors to the website can explore a range of colonial objects up close too, through the activity ‘Object in Focus’ which shows objects from different angles and invites viewers to speculate about what they might be.

Colonial objects in surprising places  

The inclusion on the Museum of the Highlands website of The Highlanders’ Museum opened up this theme for us. However, we also found objects in many less obvious collections – across the Highlands some objects had been collected in the colonies in unclear circumstances, objects that had contributed to Scotland’s involvement in the slave trade, and even toys exploring the Empire within the collection of the Highland Museum of Childhood. 

The board game ‘Ups and Downs in India’ is definitely ‘of its time’, and a strong reminder of Britain’s colonial presence in India during the 1930s. It was produced by Homeland Training College in 1930, most likely for the children of people relocating to India for work. Players would move around the board, landing on squares featuring activities such as ‘preaching to the people’ and bible translation, as well as challenges in the form of monsoons and uprisings.

By including objects like this in the project, we wanted to demonstrate the way that colonial history was intertwined with so many aspects of Highland life – in fact, the more we looked, the more it became clear that the theme of colonialism and Empire could be found pretty much everywhere. 

The issue of looting.

Many objects currently in British museums are known to have been acquired in circumstances that would not be acceptable today, this includes some objects in Highland collections. Currently, the museum sector is asking questions about how we share these objects, and, in some cases, how we can repatriate them. In our work, we needed to ask an obvious and uncomfortable question – should we include looted objects on the Museum of the Highlands website? 

Objects and their descriptions allowed us to be open and upfront about ethical questions around sharing looted objects, and the difficulties we encounter interpreting them. The wording in the object descriptions is chosen to clearly explain the difficulties. 

The inclusion of a shield originally belonging to an unknown Abyssinian soldier (from present-day Ethiopia) engages directly with the issue of looting. After the looting of Maqdala by British forces, several objects from the palace made their way to Britain’s shores. Through an interactive story, website users are encouraged to think about the circumstances in which the shield was taken, explore how the news from Maqdala was received in Britain at the time, and question the fate of the object today. High school learners using the website are encouraged to consider a range of issues surrounding this object and form their own opinions. 

Slavery and Reflection

The guidance published by Education Scotland is very clear: “To understand the full complexity of decolonising, it is important to remember that racism is rooted in colonialism when Western countries justified the enslavement of people.” Acknowledging the legacies of slavery is an important part of our work on this project. Young people can take part in a range of activities on the website which address colonialism across Highland museum collections.

When developing Museum of the Highlands, we knew there would be lots of stories to celebrate, but also some, such as those involving slavery, that would be heavy with tragedy. 

One activity I’m proud of is called ‘On Reflection’ – these PDF activity sheets provide ways for schools to explore different, sometimes difficult, topics. They include discussion questions as well as the opportunity to design or create a memorial as part of the reflection process. Having the time to think and reflect is so important to young people’s development – sometimes we can be in such a rush to learn that we forget that thinking and processing what we have heard can take time, especially with sensitive history. 

Several of the ‘On Reflection’ activity sheets explore colonial themes. One celebrates Harlem Renaissance poet Claude Mackay – his Scottish surname is very revealing, shockingly given to his enslaved grandparents by their owner. Another ‘On Reflection’ directly commemorates the victims of the Transatlantic slave trade, supported by an interactive story exploring the Transatlantic crossing, based on the lives of workers on a plantation owned by Highlander James Fowler. Born in Rosemarkie around 1762, James emigrated to Jamaica at the end of the century when the island was a major centre for the production of coffee and sugar. Back in the Highlands, James was presented with a beautifully-engraved snuff box from the East Ross Volunteers – he had been their First Lieutenant after returning from Jamaica. 

The story of the snuff-box, now in Groam House Museum, is a painful example of how individual primary sources do not give us a full picture of a person’s life. By sharing the lives of the plantation workers too, we’re able to give more of the story and question how people like James were able to take part in the slave trade. 

We hope these activities support young people to form their own opinions about difficult, sensitive and, at times, controversial issues. 

Finally, and not for the faint-hearted, we’ve included a ‘Big Question’ debate activity entitled ‘Should Britain apologise for the British Empire?’.

This project was funded by Art Fund and Museums Galleries Scotland and is sponsored by Ilum Studio.

Prescribe Heritage Highland – ‘Museums as Communities of Care’

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Prescribe Heritage Highland – ‘Museums as Communities of Care’

Over the last eighteen months, Museums & Heritage Highland have been part of an innovative project looking at the role heritage and culture can play in supporting social prescribing for people in the Highlands. 

Social prescribing, sometimes referred to as community referral is a means of enabling GPs , nurses and other health and care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services. It is an approach that connects people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing.

Museums & Heritage Highland partnered with Highlife Highland to work with University of the Highlands & Islands leading the research, funded by UKRI (UK Research and Innovation). It was shaped by a project first devised and run in Edinburgh by Ruthanne Baxter, Museum Services Manager at Edinburgh University Museums. Her initiative, Prescribe Culture, was a heritage-based, non-clinical pilot project with the aim of supporting students at Edinburgh University with mental health difficulties. By working with Ruthanne and her expertise, Prescribe Heritage Highland aimed to look at whether, and how, this approach could be scaled up in rural areas to support people across the Highlands. Five of our museums, Groam House Museum, Wick Heritage, West Highland Museum, Clyne Heritage Society and Highland Museum of Childhood were project partners, working alongside Highlife Highland Museums, Archives & Rangers Services. Each museum devised a programme of activity designed over six weeks for participants to attend.

From a research perspective, the project has been really interesting. The project faced challenges around perceptions of what ‘social prescribing’ means and its value to patients. The referral process and how GPs actually signposted their patients into the museums’ activity programmes was also highlighted as a barrier to participation.

We know that our museums in the Highlands deliver what would be defined as ‘social prescribing’ on micro levels all the time. From the volunteers who work in our museums benefiting from making social connections, to people engaging with our events, activities and projects that encourage meeting new people and improving wellbeing, our museums really are communities of care.

This project has allowed us to begin to find ways of measuring the impact our museums have in our local communities and show the difference they make to peoples’ lives. We hope that a further phase of funding will allow the findings of this project to be developed into new community collaborative initiatives. A short film was made, exploring the successes and challenges of delivering social prescribing in rural environments.

EPIC STORIES OF THE HISTORIC SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS ARE READY TO BE DISCOVERED ONLINE

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EPIC STORIES OF THE HISTORIC SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS ARE READY TO BE DISCOVERED ONLINE

Museum of the Highlands is a new website offering novel and exciting ways to delve into the rich history of the Scottish Highlands. From archaeology and ancient stones to paintings, crofting tools, and complex colonial histories, incredible stories of the historic Highlands and its people are ready to be discovered.

The dynamic learning hub centres around an interactive timeline, allowing users to discover over 350 fascinating objects from 3 billion BC to present day. High-quality photographs along with detailed descriptions provide up close analysis of each object. Available to anyone interested in the history of the Scottish Highlands, 200 free resources, from fun games to in-depth learning aids, invite a deeper dig into the past. A Gaelic version of the website will be complete in the Autumn.

Fifteen diverse museums from across the Highlands collaborated to create the website, with project management by the heritage network organisation Museums and Heritage Highland. The project has been supported by Art Fund through its Reimagine programme and Museums Galleries Scotland.

Innovation and Network Manager at Museums Heritage Highland, Nicola Henderson, said: 

“When the country went into lockdown in 2020, museums across the Highlands, like museums everywhere, looked for new ways to engage with people. Collectively, our network of museums developed the idea of an online digital learning hub sharing collections from across the Highlands. Thanks to funding from Art Fund and Museums Galleries Scotland, this spark of an idea has become Museum of the Highlands. 

“We have created an engaging, fun and, most importantly, user-friendly website that supports individuals, families, schools and museums to engage meaningfully with museum collections at home or in the classroom.”

Museum of the Highlands learning resources have been developed in partnership with teachers and young people to support teachers to engage students and help them learn in innovative and creative ways, not just in history lessons. Object-based learning enhances engagement with many topics to suit our 21st-century Scottish curriculum.

Rosie Barrett, Digital Learning and Interpretation Specialist who worked on the project, said:

 “For anyone new to object-based learning, the concept is simple. The term refers to using physical objects as a teaching aid. We can see, touch, and even smell things our ancestors held and used to learn about the past. This project challenged us to capture and convey these physical attributes for a digital platform.

“My work is focused on exploring objects in ways that help us to grow and develop, including cognitively. I am interested in the untapped potential of using historical artefacts in cross-curricular ways and supporting the whole learner and how we think. Objects from the past can help us make sense of the present and work towards the future. Throughout the project, we share objects in ways that stimulate curiosity and develop thinking.

“One learning resources is the set of debating activities. We consulted schools to find out what issues young people were interested in, then built the activities around objects from the fifteen museum collections. We have scaffolded discussions around questions of importance today. For example, a prehistoric harpoon features in a debate on animal rights, as we ask, ‘Should animals have rights like humans?’. This debate builds on students learning about their human rights and the democratic processes in Scotland. It also widens the topic to contemporary issues like choosing vegan and vegetarian lifestyles.”

An additional feature of the website encourages users to contact museums directly to find out more about their collections. Schools and other groups can also arrange virtually or in person visits. 

While researching objects selected for the project, Museums discovered links to colonial history and the Transatlantic slave trade that they had not previously considered and uncovered complex colonial histories.

Freya Samuel, Digital Learning and Interpretation Specialist who also worked on the project, explains:

“Links to slavery and colonialism are prevalent in museums across the UK – the Highlands are no exception. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was common for wealthy Highlanders to be involved in colonial trade. The expansion of the British empire opened up new opportunities for pioneering Highlanders to make their fortunes, from military postings in the colonies, working for East India or Hudson Bay Companies, to livelihoods made as merchants or overseers profiting from the slave trade. These often-lucrative opportunities were particularly appealing to those facing hardship following the Highland clearances.

“It is important that we engage openly with this aspect of Highland history. We encouraged museums to think critically about their collections. Uncovering these links is not intended to villainize individuals or judge the ethics of the past by todays standards. It acknowledges these histories by including the voices and stories of the people exploited by the British Empire.”

Colonial themes presented through the website include the transatlantic slave trade, colonial collecting from Africa, Asia, North America, and Oceania, the Opium trade, colonial and post-colonial military battles, loot and the work of missionaries. Interpretation across the digital learning hub aims to take an informative yet balanced approach.

Museum of the Highlands is online now and free to access. It is supported by the Art Fund and Museums Galleries Scotland and is sponsored by Ilum Studio to help it grow and thrive post-launch.

Museum of the Highlands can be found at https://museumofthehighlands.org

The power of object-based learning, digitally!

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Exterior view of croft doll's house. White outside with straw roof, green door and small windows

Rosie Barrett, Digital Learning and Interpretation Specialist, discusses the power of object-based learning which is at the heart of our new digital learning hub – Museum of the Highlands.

From time to time, most teachers find themselves looking around for interesting ways to engage students and help them learn as school priorities change. We’ve developed the Museum of the Highlands to support exactly this, using object-based learning to enhance engagement about a range of topics to suit our 21st-century Scottish curriculum.

There are over 300 objects from a full range of historical periods and nearly 200 learning resources. I’m going to share just a handful of these resources and give a taste of the way we’ve created them to allow teachers to explore objects in innovative and creative ways, and not just in history lessons.

What is object-based learning?
For anyone new to object-based learning, the concept is actually incredibly simple. The term refers to using physical objects or artefacts as a teaching aid. The idea is that we can learn about the people of the past through their objects. We can see, touch, even smell, the things that our ancestors held and used.

Objects are tangible and real. This makes them great for younger children with more concrete thinking styles. We can hold objects, feel their weight and texture, and better understand how they might have been used or valued.

Metal WW2 round, green hat.
Metal World War Two hat from The Highlanders’ Museum


However, objects are also fantastic for developing empathy in all of us – no matter our age. By putting on a metal Brodie hat, for example, we move closer to understanding how the soldier who wore it might have felt and experienced conflict. We move closer to the proverbial ‘standing in another’s footsteps’ – in this case, wearing another person’s hat.

It can undoubtedly be a very powerful experience, holding something and feeling a physical connection. It can give us sensory information and very quickly.

However, these are great arguments for visiting museums (and for taking students to museums) – and I hope you do, lots! But the Museum of the Highlands is a digital entity. Through the site, we are definitely hoping that schools will feel supported to work more closely with the 15 featured museums and to visit them. However, we also knew that we needed to create stand-alone resources that brought the advantages of digital technology to object-based learning. We’ve pushed ourselves throughout the project to do exactly this – to share objects in creative ways that stimulate curiosity and develop thinking (among other things).

Today, I’m going to share a couple of the approaches we’ve taken.

Stimulating curiosity and catering to a range of learners
One activity, which we’ve called ‘Object in Focus’, allows students to look at objects from a range of different viewpoints by providing a series of photographs of unusual angles. It taps into students’ natural curiosity as they are able to puzzle over the different angles and try to work out what each object could be. The activity challenges us to see things slightly differently and helps to explore the objects in more detail.

prehistoric harpoon on a white background. Made from bone, long and think with sharp edges
Prehistoric harpoon from West Highland Museum


A powerful example is a prehistoric harpoon, used 5000 years ago for hunting. Looking closely at this object tells us so much! I love that you can see the wood grains so clearly, ponder on the survival of this fragile material. You can see the way that a hole has been carefully pierced so that it can be attached to a strap to help the hunter to use, manipulate and hold onto it. You can see the many barbs used for ensuring it lodged in the hunter’s prey. It’s a gruesome object, but it’s also fascinating when learning about our ancestors.

Another activity is ‘What’s the Noise?’. Here, museum staff recorded the sounds that some of the objects make. It’s another great resource for stimulating curiosity as students can puzzle over what an object could be from its sound. However, this activity also helps us to move closer to the people of the past by hearing the same things that they would have heard.

Black metal handcuffs on white background. two round pieces of metal joined together by links of black metal
Handcuffs from Cromarty Courthouse Museum


Listening to the jangling of historic handcuffs from Cromarty Courthouse Museum is very eerie and evocative! When I first heard that recording, for a moment, I was right there with the prisoner. This activity would make a great starter activity – whether you’re looking at the Victorians in primary school, the treatment of criminals for a psychology module, or even doing some creative writing in an English lesson.

Developing thinking – objects for the future
It’s easy to see how we can learn about people from the past by exploring the objects that they made, owned, used, treasured, or even discarded… However, a lot of my work as an education consultant has been focused over the years on exploring objects in ways that help us to grow and develop now, including cognitively.

I’m really interested in the huge, untapped potential of using historical artefacts in cross-curricular ways and to support the whole learner and how we think. I believe that objects from the past can help us make sense of the present and support us to work towards the future that we want for our planet.

Afterall, what is the point of studying the past if we don’t use it to inform our decisions today? The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence rightly places a strong emphasis on the role of the individual within a community, including participating responsibly in decision making. Most teachers are also passionate about supporting young learners to develop into the confident adults of the future.

One of the learning resources of which I’m really proud is the set of debating activities we’ve created. We consulted schools to find out what issues young people were interested in before developing these, then built the activities around objects from the 15 museum collections. Using the objects, we’ve scaffolded discussions around questions of importance today.

The prehistoric harpoon features as one of several objects in a debate on animal rights, as we ask: ‘Should animals have rights like humans?’. This debate builds on students’ prior learning about their own human rights and the democratic processes in Scotland, but also widens the topic in a way that is absolutely applicable to the current age when many people are considering vegan and vegetarian lifestyles.

It was really important to us that these activities didn’t have a right or a wrong answer. A key element of the development of the education resources was ensuring that young people felt able to express themselves and articulate their own viewpoints. In order to do that, they need to be able to talk through those views and work out how they feel. They also need to know that it’s perfectly legitimate to change their minds and that sometimes their friends may have different opinions.

interior of croft doll's house, shows 3 small rooms - kitchen, bedroom and living space.
Homemade croft dolls’ house from The Highland Museum of Childhood.


Lots of the topics, understandably, explore environmental issues, including the impact of taking holidays and the effects of fast fashion. A debate for younger children encourages them to explore a range of alternatives to buying new toys, such as making their own games. This debate is based around a beautiful handmade dolls’ house, created during the Second World War out of recycled materials during a time of toy shortages. It’s a really wonderful and very inspiring object!

I hope I’ve given you a little flavour of our take on object-based learning for a digital age! And I hope you’ll enjoy the activities we’ve put together.

The Museum of the Highlands has been generously supported by the Art Fund and Museums Galleries Scotland. It is sponsored by Ilum Studio to help it grow and thrive post launch. We are grateful to all its supporters so far.

A Taste of Highland Heritage – Museum of the Highlands

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A Taste of Highland Heritage – Museum of the Highlands

Freya Samuel, Digital Learning & Interpretation Specialist, highlights a selection of objects showcased on the new Museum of the Highlands digital learning hub.

Over the last year, I have worked with fifteen incredible collections across the Highlands on the new digital learning hub ‘Museum of the Highlands’. The platform brings together around 350 objects from these collections into an immersive digital experience supported by a suite of exciting learning activities for schools.

A big part of this project has been drawing out the stories of people and places found within objects. The objects almost act as a vessel through which captivating stories of Highland history can be told. Before the big launch, I wanted to share a taster of some of the amazing objects that you will find. 

Making a spectacle out of spectacles

Although these unassuming tortoiseshell glasses may not look special, they have quite the story to tell. They are said to have belonged to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, (1667 – 1747). Chief of Clan Fraser, he was a Jacobite nicknamed the ‘Old Fox’ for his double dealings, violent feuds, and changes of allegiance.

Lovat was convicted of treason for his part in the 1745 Jacobite Rising and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. His punishment was commuted to beheading. On 9 April 1747, he was the last person publicly executed on Tower Hill, London. 

Such a crowd gathered for his execution that a stand holding spectators collapsed and killed nine people. Lovat was so amused by the incident that legend has it that this is where the origin of the phrase ‘laughing your head off’ comes from – quite the spectacle! 

Korean connections in Balintore

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This beautiful porcelain vase reveals the unexpected links between the Seaboard village of Balintore, and South Korea. 

In 1872, thirty-year-old Christian missionary, John Ross, was sent to northeast China. He founded the Dongguan Church in Shenyang and became acquainted with traders from Korea. Ross is a very important figure to modern-day Christians in South Korea, and the John Ross Centre, a key part of the history of the Seaboard villages, was funded by a South Korean Christian group. 

This rare chinaware vase commemorates the founding of the Chinese Empire in 1916 by the Yuan Dynasty. It was donated by Elder Ahn Kee-Seok (a member of the group of South Koreans dedicated to preserving the history of John Ross) as a symbol of Korean culture and tradition.    

A Celtic cushion with a tale to tell

The fascinating story behind this hand-embroidered Celtic-style cushion cover lies with its maker, Kay Matheson. Matheson (1928 – 2013) was a well-known Scottish nationalist and Gaelic language lobbyist, born on the shores of Loch Ewe to a crofting family. She was famed for her involvement in the recovery/liberation (sometimes called theft) of the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1950 when she was age 22. 

A 3 billion-year-old object

This may look like any ordinary rock at first glance. However, a well-trained eye could spot that this is actually a sample of one of the oldest rocks in the world – Lewisian Gneiss. 

Formed three billion years ago, Lewisian Gneiss forms the basement rock for the coastal strip on which Gairloch is situated, as well as the Outer Hebrides, from which it takes its name. Over millennia, this area experienced numerous geological upheavals and now helps us to understand periods of intense volcanic activity when Europe began to split from North America.  

These are only a few of the incredible stories the Museum of the Highlands will tell. From archaeology and ancient stones, to paintings, crofting tools, and complex colonial histories, there is so much to learn about the intricate, diverse, and fascinating heritage of the Highlands.

The Museum of the Highlands has been generously supported by the Art Fund and Museums Galleries Scotland. It is sponsored by Ilum Studio to help it grow and thrive post launch. We are grateful to all its supporters so far.

Sealladh – a review of our inaugural conference

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Sealladh – a review of our inaugural conference

On 20th April 2023, as the sun beamed across the Highlands, museum and heritage sector workers, volunteers and representatives made their way to Inverness, gathering for Sealladh – Highland Heritage Conference.

Initiated and organised by Museums Heritage Highland, the event is a chance for our Heritage sector to assemble. With long distances to travel and work demands, folk across the Highlands’ museums and heritage sector don’t often find time to get together – an in-person gathering felt long overdue.

The two-day event is the first conference focused solely on heritage to take place in the Highland capital. The line-up of local heritage professionals presenting alongside representatives from national funding and support agencies was impressive. The topics on the agenda were varied and pertinent.

A warm reception from the MHH team, accompanied by refreshments, was a chance for our heritage colleagues to meet and catch up. After a welcome from MHH Chair Dan Cottam, small groups formed for the first session, sharing highlights and difficulties of the last few years, what worked, what changes they have implemented in their museums and where there were problems or failures. This session concluded with a discussion on skills, the diversity of skills in the sector, the professional needs of our heritage colleagues and how we bring those two together.

A Pecha Kucha followed. Delegates presented a project and discussed how they have responded to the demands of the last few years. We enjoyed fascinating presentations by Gaelic museum and arts professional, Anna NicGuaire on the use of Gaelic in museums, the Coast team shared insight into a wonderful west coast community engagement, storytelling and mapping project, Racheal Thomas discussed Gairloch Museum’s ‘Warm Winter Wednesdays’ addressing community issues such as loneliness, isolation and inclusivity, and West Highland Museum told of their experiences with virtual reality as they develop an immersive experience partnered with St. Andrews University.

The first day concluded with delegates enjoying supper at Velocity and viewing the Gaelic documentary Dùthchas – Home, a touching exploration of the effects of population movement on the Gaelic language and culture of the Isle of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides.

The next day’s packed schedule kicked off with the Our People panel discussion focusing on the museum workforce and how this is changing. Tamsin Russell (Museums Association), Siobhan Beaton (Ullapool Museum), Ian Leith (Wick Heritage) and David Bell (National Mining Museum) talked about attracting, retaining and get the best out of our volunteers and when and how to engage additional staff.

Following, two concurrent group sessions took a deep dive into themes touched on in the panel discussion. David Bell discussed succession planning and, through examples of his own experience, as a museum volunteer and then employee, what we can do when volunteers with specific knowledge or skills stop volunteering and we can’t fill that gap. Meanwhile, Tasmin Russell led a workshop exploring well-being in museums sharing sage advice on how we best support our staff and volunteers day to day, in specific situations and through difficult times.

More tea and on with the next panel discussion.

Resourcing Our Heritage – a subject critical to all heritage organisations and museums dealing with further cuts in funding and increasing costs. How can we as a sector move from surviving to thriving in these difficult times? Chaired by MHH’s Andrew Mckenzie, Gillian Simmons shared Museums Galleries Scotland’s new seven-year strategy, Megan Braithwaite provided insight into applying to Heritage Lottery Fund, and Katie Mullen shared invaluable tips on securing support from individuals and sponsors. From the floor came tough questions and comments on core funding, funding feedback, funds now available and how to deal with failure in funded projects.

The following session, Capital Projects Discussion Group, talked about big projects, how to fund them, manage them, and how to not get overwhelmed. Delegates shared their experiences, offered guidance and found reassurance within the group.

Meanwhile, Andrew McKenzie and Yvonne Crook discussed Highland Tourism’s ambitious project to promote the Highlands as a premium environmental tourism brand and work they are doing involving the community and the heritage sector.

More Highland hospitality with lunch and a chance to chat brought us to the final leg of the conference. The afternoon focus was on collections – how we use them, care for them and how we tell the stories they hold.

The panel, Katey Boal (NTS), Freya Samuel (The Highlanders Museum), Rachael Thomas (freelance museum curator and conservator), Abeer Eladany (University of Aberdeen Museums) and Peter Knowles (Smartify) discussed a wide range of collection-related subjects from community engagement, representation, physical and intellectual accessibility, anti-racist practice and thinking about collections in a local and international context.

Delegates had the choice of joining three different groups for the last sessions of the day.

Our Collection Care workshop shared our positives and negatives about collections care, storage, display and use with invaluable advice from conservator Racheal Thomas. Digitising Collections workshop with Peter Knowles from Smartify provided insight into digital as an opportunity to bring in different voices, connect to people who can’t visit a museum, and generate income. At the Decolonisation of Collections workshop, Freya Samuel and Abeer Eladany guided our delegates in identifying and recognising the colonial structures and approaches in heritage and advised them on taking action.

The conference closed with a round-up from Dan thanking all the speakers, facilitators and everyone who came along.

As an informative and inspirational two days ended, friends and colleagues dispersed with helpful insights and practical advice, accompanied by a real sense of mutual support across the heritage community.

Feedback from delegates has been overwhelmingly positive. We all enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere and the chance to meet people in the MHH network and, of course, will benefit from learning from sector colleges. We also hope that similar events will take place in the future.

The event was organised by Museums and Heritage Highland, a charity formed in 2019 to promote collaborative working and provide a supportive voice for the Highland heritage sector. It is supported through the Museums Galleries Scotland Forums Fund project and is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players. The event was also supported by Smartify, the world’s most downloaded museum app, and Highland Tourism CIC, who are working with the sector to create a world-leading sustainable destination and premium environmental tourism brand.

You can watch the pecha kucha talks and panel discussions on our YouTube channel here.

Landseer – exhibition of rare works comes to Grantown Museum

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A dark stag stands to the left of the picture looking towards a deep valley with mountains in the distance

New exhibition coming to Grantown Museum of paintings by Sir Edwin Landseer aims to explore the Victorian creation of the Highlands as a site of romance and adventure – a fantasy that endures to this day.

Two hundred years ago, Edwin Landseer followed his wealthy patrons from the upper-class drawing rooms of London to spend his summers in the wilderness of the Cairngorms. The drama and mystery of the landscape would have a profound effect on the artist and his work, and he in turn would do much to popularise a romantic vision of the Highlands as an exotic northern wilderness.

Landseer’s obsession and fascination with the Cairngorms inspired the creation of a new visual identity for the Highlands during a time of great cultural and societal change. Opening this May, Landseer – A Highland Romance at Grantown Museum brings together rarely seen works by the artist to explore how our sense of Highland culture has been shaped by his enduring imagery.

The exhibition includes paintings from the Royal Collection, Woburn Abbey and The University of Dundee, as well as works on paper from private collections, and photographs from the museum’s own collection. The loans are supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections.

Dan Cottam, manager of Grantown Museum said, ‘It will be a wonderful opportunity to get up close and personal with an incredibly talented artist, a household name in his day, whose position in society meant he played a hand in shaping the way people see the Highlands and Highlanders to this day. We are giving today’s Highlanders a chance to see some of Landseer’s original paintings and sketches which are rarely seen in public and tell the story of the land that inspired him and his relationships with the influential people who shared his passions in and of the Cairngorms. We are most excited to bring The Highlander and The Highland Lassie from the Royal Collection back to the Highlands – two works created by the artist at the pinnacle of his career.’

19thC engraving of ‘The Eagle’s Nest’ © Grantown Museum

Landseer‘s (1802 – 1873) personal and professional life was irrevocably changed when he met the Duke and Duchess of Bedford. Pioneers in the worlds of science and the arts, this trailblazing pair were instrumental in shaping Landseer’s rise to the top of the art world. Their patronage, influence and affection during the summers they shared in the Cairngorms would see Landseer inspired by a new landscape and way of life.

A love for the Highlands was famously shared by another couple – Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Landseer’s depictions appealed to the Royal couple’s ideal of a simple way of living, away from the stifling city and the confines of society life. Their new Highland residence, Balmoral, was within riding distance of the tiny enclave of rustic cottages at Glen Feshie that the Duchess had taken for pleasure.

With royal patronage and influence in high society, Landseer’s fame grew and prints of his work would soon be hanging in the parlours of the Victorian middle classes. His images, including the much-loved Monarch of the Glen, are popular to this day.

Landseer – A Highland Romance will look at the artist’s relationship with the Cairngorms and with his influential patrons, as well as the role that Victorian celebrity played in creating an artificially romantic notion of the Highlands and of the people who lived there.

The paintings on display demonstrate Landseer’s brilliance in the use of narrative and mythology to appeal to Victorian sensibilities, while his lesser known personal collection of landscape sketches illustrate how he came to understand and use the unique Highland environment in his larger works.

Long stays in fashionable shooting estates provided the perfect subject matter to exploit Landseer’s talent for animal painting and portraiture. His many unapologetic and often graphic depictions of ‘the stalk’ helped to cement a growing passion for field sports that has been tremendously influential on the economy, environment and social structure of the Highlands.

This exhibition will give visitors the opportunity to explore the realities and myths of Highland identities, the interaction of celebrity and art, and the changes in land use in the 19th century that continue to affect this precious landscape today.

Sophia Weston, Trustee of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “We are pleased that the Weston Loan Programme is supporting the display of these paintings at Granton-on-Spey’s community museum. Our programme is all about helping museums tell compelling stories through significant loans, and this is a perfect opportunity to encounter Landseer’s work amid the landscape that so inspired him.”

Exhibition Details

Landseer – A Highland Romance, 13th May until 30th September 2023 at Grantown Museum, Grantown-on-Spey PH263HH

Museum admission: £4 (free for children & members)

For more information or images please contact: Dan Cottam, Museum manager, Grantown Museum: dan@grantownmuseum.co.uk